Ha ha, I got here first! Now I hope someone else isn't starting a thread as I am typing.

Yesterday I walked for about an hour and I think I had some of those b/h everyone is talking about! So that's what they feel like...I had this intensely uncomfortable belly feeling the whole time, but it went away when I stopped walking. Maybe I'll do it again today and see what happens.

I just realized I got here first because I'm a day early! No wonder. Oh well. No one post anything else here until tomorrow.

Happy Sunday! We went out for Chinese last night and I've felt ill ever since... I think I ate way too much heavy food. I'm still having constant diarhea, sporatic contractions, and loosing huge globs of cm every day. When is birth going to happen?! Looks like I'll make it to yet another midwife appt tomorrow...

Sorry your Chinese food disagreed with you! As far as when the baby will be born, remember two weeks after your due date is as perfectly normal as two weeks before. It can be really hard work to keep it together when you're expecting it any minute, but try not to dwell on how "long" it's taking.

I have been so much more uncomfortable, had so many more stabs in the cervix, that I got anxious about keeping the baby in long enough (also the gbs was worrying me until I talked to a pediatrician). Yet my due date isn't for more than three weeks which means it could, really, be almost six weeks before the baby is born. I don't know how that could be possible (or how enormous I would be at that point), but I am trying to prepare myself so I don't get hung up on "when?" I have had some clients literally make themselves ill over it. The babies will be born. We all have to remember so many factors contribute to the beginning of labor- many we can't pinpoint or monitor, so we have to trust the process.

I am still dawdling along in procrastination-land! May still seems far in the future, let alone June.

Liz, I've been getting more and more uncomfortable too. I've also been having lots of painful contractions at night. I'm not due for 4 more weeks, so I could actually go into July if I go past my EDD! I don't know how I would stand up if I went that long, but I'm trying to prepare for it! With all my night-time contractions, I've been worried about the baby coming too early.

Ugh! I've got a yucky tummy again! This is the second time in a month. Last night though I was a little worried because I was having surges every 8 to 12 minutes and I was sick to my stomach(which I had during both of my previous birthing times). Also we were getting MAJOR tunderstorms, we were under a tornado watch and then warning for most of the night unusual for where we live. Anyway this is the second time we've had a really intense set of thunderstorms and I've had regular surges. I have a feeling that this baby is going to be like his/her sisters and come w/ a major storm. We shall see.

So sorry about the yucky tummies! The amoxycillin seems to be winning the war with the enterococcus, so at the very least I have a week before the course is finished and the UTI comes raging back.

Julie, dh finally put up your valences and they look great! We also assembled James' bookcase, although he's going to have to move some of the shelves since he apparently forgot that many baby books are quite tall. :LOL

I have a mw appt tomorrow, and I complete the 39th week on Tuesday. I've been having a lot of pelvic pressure and James was pretty active yesterday - hopefully he has wiggled out of the sunny-side-up position and into one that will hurt me less!

I am also very uncomfortable. I am not 'due' for another 4 weeks, but we'll see. If this baby is anything like his/her big sister, I could be giving birth in 2 weeks! But, who knows! I am really trying to stay calm and just enjoy this time with the baby on the inside, but boy howdy am I tired! Oh well, we all are, that is some consolation! Knowing I'm not in this alone!! I look at my bracelet and remember that there are lots of other Mommas who are feeling what I am right now also...patience right?

Bleah! I know this is way TMI, but I have sooo much cm today! (clumpy, stringy, watery - everything!) I'm a bit paranoid, since my bag of water is "bulging" and I've been soooo damp today. I keep thinking surely I'd know if it actually broke, though. My appt is tomorrow at 2pm, so unless anything drastic happens I'll just ask her to check with some litmus paper again tomorrow. Speaking of, where can you even buy litmus paper? If I had some here, I wouldn't be worried.

The pediatrician was reassuring because he said a baby after 36 weeks is just fine and at no greater risk for gbs disease; he said really premature babies are the ones the books are talking about. Also he cited the protocols for administering abx to me in labor and they are looser than my midwife's, so I felt reassured about that as well. While he did say he has seen babies die from gbs infection his information about all the risk factors was very clear and I don't feel concerned about it at all. I am a little worried about PROM due to the gbs colonization but I am working on lowering the colony count as per mw's instructions and a new culture will hopefully give more reassuring news.

Happy Sunday everyone! Had my baby shower today! It was very fun....a brunch at my mom and dad's house.

Best present of the day (there were two actually)...

A hand knit sweater, hat, and pair of socks from my aunt (who will be our baby's Godmother). They are absolutely beautiful!

And from my SIL...a basket filled with children's books and a gift cert. to Chinaberry! Each of her children picked their favorite early childhood books and put a nice note in the book saying why it was their favorite and that they hoped our daughter would love it too. VERY sweet!

Weirdest gift of the day...

My college room-mate who had a baby in January gave me Ezzo's book :Puke with a note saying how great the book was and they followed the methods and got their daughter to sleep 12 hours at night at 10 weeks.

I am SO sick of people telling me that they just know I am going to have this baby early. I finally told dh tonight to stop saying that. He keeps telling me that there is no way I am going to make it to my due date. Yes, I am huge, and yes, I am having lots of contractions, and yes my first was born 37 +3 weeks, but that doesn't mean a thing!!! I told him to stop saying that because it will get my hopes up, June 21 will come (that oh so magical date!), I will still be pregnant and will get very depressed!: Anyone else feeling like this?

I'm having lots of pressure down low, something I've never experienced before. So, that is good I am thinking! Having some good contractions, well I think they're good, whether or not they are doing anything to my cervix..well that is another story all together. I will get my birth kit this week!!! YIPEE!! I am really excited, it seems like this is really going to happen. Now if I could just SLEEP! that would be nice. Hopefully soon....

I am SO sick of people telling me that they just know I am going to have this baby early. I finally told dh tonight to stop saying that. He keeps telling me that there is no way I am going to make it to my due date. Yes, I am huge, and yes, I am having lots of contractions, and yes my first was born 37 +3 weeks, but that doesn't mean a thing!!! I told him to stop saying that because it will get my hopes up, June 21 will come (that oh so magical date!), I will still be pregnant and will get very depressed!: Anyone else feeling like this?

Kim...I'm getting this A LOT too. I wish people would stop saying it because I might start to believe it.

I took a nap yesterday from 6-11 p.m., so now it's almost 5 in the morning and I can't sleep. I made jello, ate a whole bunch of food, and am now having some EPO and RRL tea. The damned birds just started cheeping outside.

My mw appt is at 11, and I'm hoping they'll do a more enthusiastic membrane strip, because things have not improved on the peeing front. The amoxycillin is killing the bacteria and has alleviated symtoms, but I still cannot empty my bladder and I have all these weird sensations inside when I try - sort of like my poor little bladder is trying to empty itself while being crushed by a giant head. :

I scheduled one of those pregnancy massages for after the mw appointment. Simultaneously, the dog puke will be shampooed out of my van's carpet. Talk about indulgences!

Smithie ~ I had a VERY hard time sleeping last night and I didn't take a nap yesterday. Enjoy your massage!! I had one last week and it was AMAZING. The best part for me was the pillows that allow me to lay on my belly. that!

I'm heading out for my u/s shortly. Please send some head down thoughts! One mw thinks she's vertex and one is concerned/unsure of her position. I think she is vertex but really balled up in at the bottom of my uterus. We shall see very soon....

I'm the opposite of ya'll who said you didn't want to talk about having the baby early. I was soo shocked when DS came at 38 weeks I keep telling myself (and everyone else) that this baby's probably going to come early. I guess I know I could be setting myself up for disappointment, but I'm a procrastinator, so I really have to push myself to be ready.

((hugs)) to everyone and "soothing tummy vibes" for those who need it.

I am SO sick of people telling me that they just know I am going to have this baby early. I finally told dh tonight to stop saying that. He keeps telling me that there is no way I am going to make it to my due date. Yes, I am huge, and yes, I am having lots of contractions, and yes my first was born 37 +3 weeks, but that doesn't mean a thing!!! I told him to stop saying that because it will get my hopes up, June 21 will come (that oh so magical date!), I will still be pregnant and will get very depressed!: Anyone else feeling like this?

We have the same guess date!! I agree w/ you if one more person tells me that I'm not going to make it to my guess date I might smack them. My mom has been on this HUGE kick to tell me every chance she can that this baby is going to come early nad will be at dd's birthday party or dance recital. She started to say so last night when we were over to her house and I gave her the death look and she quickly changed her statement to this baby will come when it comes so be prepared! UGH!

Smithie- I didn't sleep last night either, but in my case it was because the storms that the weather people said would end by 10:15 swirled around us until 4:00 am w/ LOTS of lighting and thunder as well as wind. We had two littel girls smack dab in the middle of the bed and my oldest keep grabbing me w/ every big BOOM! So sleep was next to impossible. And now the storm has decided to roll back in so getting Lauren to school this morning should be fun! I just pulled the van in the garage just as it was starting again so at least I won't get soaked getting them into the van.

Just got back from my u/s. Baby is in a BEAUTIFUL vertex position. Her head is right next to my cervix. Placenta is up high and he said it looks very healthy. The radiologist re-confirmed her female-ness and took some measurements....I'm 37 weeks tomorrow and she's measuring just over 38 weeks. He estimates her to be 7 pounds 3 ounces and said if I go to my due date, he'd guess she'll be 9 pounds or just under (which fits right in with my family history...so no surprise).

I've been crying a lot lately. Everything sets me off. I'm so hormonal and emotional, and I'm not used to it. I feel like I'm 16 again, temperament-wise -- Hormonal and bitchy and out of control. I really just want to have this baby now. I know it's not time yet, but I'm soooooo tired of being pregnant and I really dont know how my body can take any more abuse. Ian kicks me so hard all day long that I feel bruised by nighttime. There is NO position that is comfortable for me. My belly is too large for my frame. My back hurts constantly. Eating is an ordeal because my insides are so squished up, and I get crampy after meals.

BH contractions are frequent and painful. I'm losing tons of mucus. I locked my keys in my car and missed my doctor's appointment this morning, and they can't fit me in again. Like, period. As an alternative, I have my choice of going Wed. to see the doctor I hate, who called me a bad mother for not wanting the 3-hour GD test and asking for alternatives, or going to a different doc June 2. The baby could BE HERE by then. Both appointments are in another city, too, so I'll have to drive 20 minutes out of my way -- NOT fun in this heat in my husband's uncomfortable and bumpy SUV (my car is in the shop -- $3,000 -- ouch).

I have no idea if I'm dilating or not and I don't know how to check myself. I also have no idea if I have GBS, since I missed my appt. this morning. I'm starting to get really stressed about both. With all these little signs of labor happening, I'd like to know if I'm progressing or not. I'm also paranoid that I may be losing fluid. Sometimes when the baby moves, I hear a weird bubbly noise like there's an air pocket in there or something. Someone please tell me that's impossible. Or that it's just intestinal gas being squished by the baby?

Anyway, I'm so stressed out and so over being pregnant. No flames please, just please, someone say something encouraging before I start to cry again.

I'm going in for my weekly appt at 2pm today - I must admit that I am really leaning toward asking her to break my water. After walking around at 6cm all weekend with my bag bulging, things are getting more and more uncomfortable. I've been having surges fairly regularly this morning (3-6 minutes apart), though they're not terribly intense.... maybe I'll go pump for awhile and see if that helps.

DH and I have both had dreams in the last few days that the baby was born VERY FAST at home, which worries me. I love the idea of a planned homebirth, and may do that for my next birth - but an UNplanned homebirth is not a good idea, in my opinion. I know it seems that everyone has had really bad experiences with AROM, but I just feel like in my situation its not a terrible idea. I've spent most of the weekend doing a ton of research on induction methods, calculated my Bishop Score, etc... and I'm going to discuss it with my midwife today to learn her professional opinion. Please send me kind thoughts/prayers!!!

No one has made the "You'll probably go early" comments to me, probably because of what happened with EliBean. (Only 3 weeks early, but a long and miserable experience all around.) I think everyone's hoping for me to make it at least to term. Then there's the fact that I apparently don't look as big as I feel; I think that when you carry bigger, people assume that the baby is closer to delivery. I got tons of those comments with Eli, and I was desperate for him to come early because I was so unhappy, but I certainly wasn't prepared to deal with the realities of it. This time, I'm much more content to wait. I'm going to bet that I'll be the last June Mom to deliver, though maybe not the one to go farthest past term.

All this talk of labor, and I still feel nowhere near it. I have lots of contractions, but nothing serious. I'm sure my cervix is closed up tighter than Fort Knox. :LOL NewBean is perfectly content where she is. She spends a lot more time OA than she used to, but still turns a fair bit. Mostly she's head down, though. It's really rough on my tailbone & lower back; I never had that problem with Eli, so that's a new thing for me. Ick.

**Vent ahead!**

Last night, I decided I was finished talking to Mike. I'm ticked off at him because he'd rather play his stupid game than watch Eli or help me clean. He's cut back on the amount of time he spends on it, but it's still way more than it should be. It's more time than I spend on MDC and a)I do other things while I"m here, like hold & nurse Eli; b)I learn useful stuff here; c)I still do as much other work as I can. I'm so ticked off with him right now, I just wanted to strangle him last night but instead I just gave up. I went to bed, and I'm not doing anything today or again until he gets off his ass. I'm protesting. Well, that's not true.. I did feed Eli. He doesn't need to starve just because his father's being a dork.

It's just not fair. That stupid game takes up way more of his time than we do, it's definately more important to him than anything else. He doesn't seem to care that the house is a mess, only that he gets to his game. I used to play the piano, you know.. just for me, all by myself, something which benefitted no one but myself. You know when the last time I did that was? Me neither! It was before I got pregnant with Eli, that's for sure. He says that MDC serves the same purpose for me as his game does for him, but that's totally not true. He goes to work and gets to talk to people all damned day, and who the hell do I get to talk to? Eli. That's it. If I get two phonecalls a week, it's a lot. At this point, I'd welcome telemarketers just to hear an adult's voice! This is the *only way* I get to communicate with the outside world. It's totally different from that game! Not only that, but when he's playing the game he can never just drop what he's doing; it's always "wait a minute, I'm in the middle of something." I can't do things like that! There is no "wait a minute" when you're dealing with a toddler! :bonk I'm soooo tempted to do nasty things to that game! I hate it I hate it I hate it!!!! :

Kirsten - I'm sending hugs and prayers your way! I completley feel for you - and it sounds like your doctor's office is not being helpful. Just a random suggestion - do they have a nurse practitioner that you squeeze you in? Sometimes you have better luck getting in to see an NP than the doc. They should at least be able to tell you over the phone about the results of your GBS test!

Last week I was a complete wreck and my parents treated me to a pre-natal massage - it helped immensly. Any way you could get one? Call around, because there's a ton of variation in pricing. You might be surprized at how inexpensive one could be (especially if there's any massage schools in your area).

As friends keep reminding me - "You won't be pregnant forever. It may feel that way, but it is impossible. The baby will come."

well--I am still getting a few people saying they can't tell I am pregnant

then dh had one of his employees ask him last week if I was having twins! It actually shocked him because I am small....and he said "does it look like she is having twins??" turns out that was the rumor in the restaurant :LOL

Still no weight gain....I skipped the ecoli culture because my stools went back to normal.

Nesting like crazy! and the kids keep asking me about my water breaking....what will it look like, what will happen, will we deliver at home, when will it happen??? they are just totally excited. they want it to happen during the week so they get to miss school to come to the hospital with us for the birth (yes, they are all attending!!)

Ryanna- I know where you're coming from. Dh use to be addicted to any type of computer game he could get his hands on and he would play for HOURS!! ONe day my nephew was playing on our computer and came across one of the lovely violent games that dh had on there and he started playing it. I freaked!! MY nephew was only 8 at the time and I felt the game was extremly inappropriate not only for my nephew but for dh as well. At that point I told him NO violent games on our computer. Then When I was pregnant w/ our oldest I gave him a choice the games or us. I calmly explained all the things that needed to be done and all the things I was doing and that if he was going to spend all his time on the computer and not with his family he would need to find an alternate place to live because if I was going to raise a child on my own I was going to do it w/out him sitting in the next room playing video games llike a 16 year old. He relapses every now and again esp. when his co-workers, who are all single and in their early 20's, get a new game and rope him in. For the most part he is so much better about it and also realizes that I'm much easier to live w/ when I have help!
I wish you luck w/ your video game junkie!!

Then When I was pregnant w/ our oldest I gave him a choice the games or us. I calmly explained all the things that needed to be done and all the things I was doing and that if he was going to spend all his time on the computer and not with his family he would need to find an alternate place to live because if I was going to raise a child on my own I was going to do it w/out him sitting in the next room playing video games llike a 16 year old.

I did this when I was pregnant with Eli, too. He didn't get it then and he doesn't get it now. He's addicted to a MUD, which is slightly different from a video game; he makes these obligations to other poeple and then gets mad at me when I tell him I'd much rather see him putting laundry away. I had a pile of laundry that I couldn't lift sitting for two months because I kept telling him I needed him to carry it downstairs for me and he kept saying "Okay, I'll do it later". Well, when he finally did it I could no longer run down the stairs to start it, so it sat down there for another week and he had the nerve to say "you didn't want to do it anyway" . I wish EVIL THINGS on that game!!